


Data Slate

by Likho



Series: Spectral Extrema [6]
Category: Ai no Kusabi
Genre: Don't Have to Know Canon, Gen, Innuendo, Kinktober 2020, Macro/Micro, Parody, Post-Canon, Smartphone, Time Skips, clone characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 07:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Likho/pseuds/Likho
Summary: A hard-fought concession.
Series: Spectral Extrema [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1353658
Kudos: 2
Collections: /fanfic/ Collected Works, Kinktober 2020





	Data Slate

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to participate in a prompt event anyways.  
> Kinktober2020 Prompts: <https://archive.is/p9MMi>
> 
> This short is also an alternate POV to [a chapter in Violent Star-rise](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18895927/chapters/45387751), but any crucial information is re-explained here.

On another planet, of another star, of another galaxy, there was a residential tower named Eos. Most denizens of Eos were content. At the peak of society's hierarchy and where no other living standard on the planet compared, even those fated to a temporary stay were content to have ever stepped foot inside. Spotless metallic interiors, a garden level, and a spectacular view of the curved horizon from the upper floors brought peace to many minds.

Except for one.

Riki tugged his collar. He was the raven in a flock of songbirds, the speck of black in the myriad of color. Engineered genes showcased vibrant hair colors from blonds to blues, pinks to purples.

Eos was meant for the humanoids, not the humans. The ruling class androids are permanent residents of Eos. Their organic humanoid property, genetically engineered Pets, only stayed for the duration of the androids' interests. Riki, a human and raised outside of such controlled environments, was unwillingly demoted to the latter. Unusually so, that the human pet past the age of twenty hadn't lost the interest of his android master.

Had others delved into the details of his former life, both unflattering and flattering, most would agree that a stay in Eos was the best outcome for him. Otherwise, he was doomed to languish in poverty and wither until death in the slums. Eos or not, his life hadn't the track for fulfilling accomplishments.

Riki stood before a sign with pictographs, not comprised of words or letters of the official language on the planet. The pictographs were meant for illiterates and children. Riki was neither, and his stay in Eos as a Pet was as mentally stimulating as dry dirt dulling the sharp blade.

Riki lost his composure and returned home. 

"Damn it, Iason. Just give me a data slate." 

In life-like synthetic skin and hair, the high and mighty android dressed in fine clothes and had more than enough money to present itself above the highest standards in human appearance.

"A Pet doesn't need a data slate."

_Again with this shit. Don't tell me this fucker is getting stingy._ Riki grit his teeth behind his lips. "A book on plants at least."

"A botanist's encyclopedia?" Iason arched his brow.

"Yes, because I'm bored! I'm always in the fucking gardens," Riki blurted out. "And there I can play Guess the Plant!"

Iason barely restrained himself from grinning. He walked over to the couch and sat.

"If you want a data slate, show me you mean it."

"What do you mean?"

Iason pat his lap and smiled, 'be a good boy and sit here'.

_This son of a bitch. He's not hurting for cash. Why is getting a data slate any argument!_

Over twenty years later.

Icarus reclined on the terminal at the heart of all information networks. With his eyes closed, he devoted his mental power to the neural connection. His predecessor, Iason, was destroyed, and Icarus' inheritance was the title of Chief of Information. Icarus' life and experience was only a fraction compared to Iason's. Nonetheless, information is power, and the authority Icarus wielded was second only to Jupiter.

Most citizens believed they owned their electronic devices, but the reverse was true. Their finances, their livelihoods, their data, and thus their fate was firmly in the domain of technology. And through technology, the Chief of Information exerted his will.

In the yesterdays, he had found a strange human with a near-extinct phenotype. Natural black hair, he could count on his hand how many humans had it. Three: Riki, through Iason's memories; a stray clone that recently appeared through unknown means, Rye; and the third, best left for another story. Both hailed from the autonomous zone of humans who had once dared to oppose the authority of machines. Though, anyone who dared so now would never accept his gift.

A data slate.

Portable computers were ubiquitous and highly sought after. But they were also jeweled collars with a network connection as the invisible leash. Icarus had considered possibilities for a new insurrection, but the descendant of the old rebels hadn't declined a data slate.

Rye's fingerprints left upon the touchscreen, Rye's retinal scans when the camera caught his eye, where Rye was at any time, by the byte Icarus knew, but it was only a fraction of what was possible.

The whole was within his means. As an unseen demonstration of power, Icarus commanded the device to forward more data to him.

_Oof!_

The next thing Icarus felt was his whole body flung forward. Wrapped tight by thick fabric against a muscular thigh.

"The internal gyroscopes," Icarus sighed, "I suppose some commands are better left unsaid."

Icarus then felt a large hand wrap around his body, pulling him out of the darkness into blinding light. Straight from the camera lens and to his mind, starlight fell from the glass roof.

The lens adjusted.

Rye was holding him in the air. Though, Rye was now a giant from Icarus' new perspective.

* * *

Rye whistled in the garden level of Eos. Verdant stalks rose from ground, stiff and supportive of ornate flowers at the plant's crown. Limited areas on the planet hosted plant life, so seeing live vegetation was novelty in itself.

He didn't understand the thought process of an android, but one just gave him a data slate and let him stay at Eos. No way he'd complain about free stuff. He pulled out his data slate from his pocket.

Stylish, sleek and thin. It must be top of the line, though Rye never kept up. It could take pictures, videos, and connect online. And there, a wide catalog of software extended its capabilities. He slid his finger up and down the responsive screen. Tapping a button here and there, the data slate vibrated, buzzed, and beeped.

"Never thought I'd get anything like this," Rye said.

Rye walked to an exotic flower. Crimson in color with its petals sprawled in all directions, but curled upward as if it were meant to cup falling starlight and rain. With the camera application open, he took a picture and switched to another tab.

Rye had thumbed through the file system and opened an electronic book. Each nudge could turn a page forward and back. With a stroke across, the electronic viewer emulated momentum and spun through the pages.

Icarus noticed. He set the page to land on the entry for the flower Rye took a picture of.

The flower was an old species that no longer had a native ecosystem. Had its genetic sequence not been archived on computing systems, it would have remained long extinct. Certainly, it was beautiful, also was the act that Eos' gardens preserved the specimen. But then a graceless voice called to Rye.

"Hey, you!"

When Rye turned around, Icarus caught a glance of who it was. An androgynous boy with immodest clothing and colorful hair--- it's one of the other Pets.

"You stole my comb, didn't you?" the boy puffed his cheeks in anger.

_Preposterous accusation._ Icarus dismissed, but paid acute attention to the boy and Rye's exchange. If Rye attracted any trouble after this, Icarus was sure to resolve the matter.


End file.
